MULTUM IN PAEVO

Otago Witness, Issue 3614, 19 June 1923, Page 51

MULTUM IN PAEVO

London experts ££32,OCX) worth of candles every year. Moro than 10,000 pieces of wood, metal, felt, cloth, and so on are useu in the making of a piano. Tile first authentic record of glassmaking- in England wsa about 1226. Falling out of trains causes, on an average, about 30 accidents a year on British railways. There are altogether 75 pyramids of different sizes in Egypt, one at least being originally 481 ft high. Ciecno-Slovakia is establishing a new gold coinage. The mines of South Africa give work to between 60,000 and 70,000 men. The foundation of the Bank of England strongroom is 63ft below street level. Five varieties of sharks go as deep as 300 fathoms, and one reaches 500 fathoms. —An ordinary brick will absorb looz of water. —As a rule, grey horses attain a greater ago than those of any other colour. The first London omnibus ran between Paddington and the Bank of England. A halfpenny is exactly lin in diameter, and therefore gives a very convenient mea sure. The occupation of Constantinople cost Great Britain £20,0CX),000 for the four years between April, 1919, and March, 1923. Australia's population in December. 1922, msmbe-ed 5.634,000, showing an increase of 124,000 during the year. The wedding-ring ox a woman in a Yorkshire town was recently struck by lightning, with fatal results for the wearer. After costing £30,000 to build a good many years ago, a castellated mansion in County Tyrone was recently sold for £IOO. Aeronauts, travelling in a balloon, rose to a height of about 35,100 ft in 1901; the aeroplane height recoi'd was recently 34,COCft. An eagle can live 28 clays without food, while a condor is said to be able to fast for 40 days. For 210 years I.ondon had its Lord Mayor’s Show on June 12. The date was altered to November 9 in 1751. The first lift of the modern tvpe was exhibited at the World’s Fair, New York, in 1853: but not until 20 years later were lifts used for raising passengers. Java lias 25,000 acres of cinchona, and grows almost the whole supply of the world. There are 2054 languages in the world, and its inhabitants possess more than 1000 religions. Britain can speak by telephone to Franco, Belgium, Switzerland, and Holland. In America the range of the long-distance phone is ever 4000 miles. Nearly 1600 band instruments of ali kinds are made, and a similar number re paired, at the Salvation Army’s factory at St. Albans, where nearly all ihe work is done by hand. The 1923 budget of the United States contains an item of £165,0C0 for experimenting with and the production of helium gas. Of all people, the easiest to suit m the way of sleeping quarters are negroes. An African negro, like a wild animal, can curl up anywhere. The city of Vancouver is being favourably affected by the use of the Panama Canal for the transit of corn. Ten million bushels cf the 1922 crop left Canada westward through Vancouver. The largest leaves in the world are those of the Inaj palm, which grows on the banks of the Amazon. They reach a length of from 30ft to sCft, and are from 1C ft to 12ft in breadth. Scientists have discovered that the memory is stronger in summer than in winter. Among the worst foes of the memory are too much food, too much physical exercise, and, strangely enough, too much edu cation. 'The aluminium paint with which the lamp-poets near Westminster Abbey were covered at the time of Princess Mary’s wedding has proved so durable that in futuie the Westminster Council will use aluminium for all its lamp-posts. - Ceylon is the homo of the largest spider in the world. This web-spinning monster lives in the most mountainous districts of that island, ant) places its net, measuruig from sft to 10ft in diameter, across the chasms and fissures in rocks. Everyone knows that Chelsea is the homo of most London artists, but how man> know that there are more hairdressers and barbers living in the borough of Stepney than in any other part of London? This interesting fact was revealed recently by a supplementary census report, a valuable publication which also contains other interesting information regarding the inhabitants of London’s boroughs. It appears that bootmakers favour Bethnal Green as a place of residence, and locomotive drivers cling to Battersea stockbrokers are to be found more plentifully at Hampstead than anywhere else in I.ondon, and the majority of actors and actresses make their homes in Paddington or Bavswater. Wandsworth is a stronghold of bank clerks, and Holborn is the dwelling-place for authors and journalists Bermondsey is largely inhabited by bargemen, and more titled persons live in the Itoyrl Borough of Kensington than anywhere else. The report also states .hat the greatest number of aliens are to be found living in the borough of Stepney, and this probably explains the preponderance of barbers dwelling in this area, for most of them arc* foreigners. A process for manufacturing powdered alcohol has been discovered in France, and a company has been formed with the object of mak'iig large quantities for export to Iho United States According to the inventor, ore Marcel Robert, the powder has only to be mixed with water to give liquid alcohol of any desired strength. A few grains in the bottom of a glass, with hot water added, will, when it is cool, produce half a pint of diluted alcohol. The powders are to lie given various flavours bv which the simple addition of water will, it is alleged, produce almost any known drink. Flavours now announced include vermouth, Benedictine, Grand Marnier, Chartreuse, and liqueur brandy. Later it is hoped to imitate to a fair degree of accuracy mixed drinks, including Martini and Manhattan cocktails. What sounds like a bootlegger’s dream may, however, be prevented from execution, at least as regards America, bv action of United States Prohibition enforcement officers. Robert declares that he has investigated ax.d found that the introduction of these powders would not be against the law, because they are not intoxicating liquids “In fact,” ho declared, “it isn’t absolutely necessary to mix the powders with water. You can eat them with bread and get the same kick.” For some reason, however, other French chemists are •ceptical.